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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Swatching Party

Thank you for all of your compliments on the shawl! I am really very pleased with how it turned out. I will of course endeavor to get a decent shot of me wearing it, in my wedding dress, on my wedding day, although here's hoping I won't actually need to use it for warmth.

The FBS reignited in me my addiction to lace, and I had no sooner finished pinning it out and leaving it to dry then I pulled out yarn, needles, and charts and cast on for Icarus.

Unfortunately I must tell you that what you see here is the second attempt. After completing the first full repeat of the first chart, I discovered a weak spot in the yarn several rows back -- and by weak spot I mean that it was hanging on by a few fibers and was ready to snap altogether at any moment. At that point I thought it easier to just cut the yarn and start over than tink back and have to weave in more ends. The yarn is Ornaghi Filati Merino Oro, called a laceweight but I think technically it'd be classified as a cobweb weight or at very least a fine laceweight. I'm knitting on size US 3 needles. I'm not feeling any real urgency to knit this shawl, not having set a deadline for myself (although wouldn't it be nice to have for our honeymoon cruise?), so I'm knitting for a bit and then knitting for a bit on other projects.

Like, for instance, some baby bootees. I whipped up this little bit 'o cuteness in less than two hours last night:

I don't have an intended recipient, nor do I have immediate plans to knit the mate, but it was a fun diversion. Plus, it used up some acrylic-blend stash yarn for which I had no other use.

Tonight's plan is to knit some swatches. With the weather being so unseasonal and the wedding only 12 days away(!), sweaters have been on my mind. There are at least two I am planning to knit this fall: Jenn and I are doing a mini-knitalong of the Central Park Hoodie, and I would like to knit J a Seamless Hybrid for Hannukah this year. Plus, there's also the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, whose yarn was my big splurge at the Yarns by Design anniversary sale, but I am happy to push that a little further down the queue for the time being as I think I may need to acquire some longer circular needles for it. Okay, maybe there's three sweaters I want to knit. And don't even get me started on the socks!

5 comments:

I swatched over the weekend and I decided to go with a gauge of 4.5 st/inch instead of 4.25/inch because I like the fabric. I've been reading here and there that the sizing runs a little small, so this may involve some math. Usually, I would knit the 48 inch bust size, but I like to wear clothes under a cardigan (I know! I'm a rebel!) so I might want some more ease. I may stick in enough stitches to add 2 inches around.

Of course, my swatches are always dirty rotten liars, so I should just cast on and redo it if it isn't right.

I love the red for the Icarus shawl, I keep seeing darker or neutral colors for it, I think it will be fantastic when you're done!